A Winter Joust
by Omegahugger
Summary: Winter has come to Gensokyo, with all the joys and problems it entails. However, a certain oni spends her time bored out of her skull at the Hakurei Shrine. What's a girl to do to get some excitement around here?


**A Winter Joust**

It was winter in Gensokyo, and it was a cold one. The fantastic wonderland had turned into a frozen wasteland where even the immortal phoenix, Fujiwara no Mokou, was having trouble keeping herself warm.

In this forgotten haven of wondrous creatures, an oni known as Suika Ibuki was, for lack of a better word, bored out of her skull. Taking a swig of her sake gourd, she sighed heavily.

"Ah, how I wish something would happen. Now I know how Tenshi felt back then." She looked around at the emptied Hakurei Shrine. Suika had gone there in hopes of playing with Reimu, but the shrine maiden had gone to the human village for supplies. The Deva scooped up some snow absentmindedly.

"Reimu's gone. Marisa's off who-knows-where. The doll-maker's cooped up in her research. Tenshi's grounded. Yukari is sleeping." Annoyed at the bleakness, Suika threw the snow at nothing in particular. "Nobody's around!"

Sulking, Suika took another gulp of sake. However, out of the corner of her eye she saw a small face well hidden amongst the bushes (personally, she accredited this discovery to the magic of sake). Finally finding some excitement, Suika prepared to launch the biggest, baddest bullet she could bother creating right now at the fairy. The fairy in question looked as if she had something else on their mind, scouting from side to side. Suika paused her bullet throwing on a whim (she blamed the sake for this one). Who knows, watching the fairy's antics could be fun.

The fairy suddenly noticed something, and retreated back into the bushes. Leaves rattled as they shook a little snow of their bodies, and they beckoned another fairy to come. The newcomer paused for a few seconds, and then dashed into the bush.

"Ah, hide and seek, is it? Could this be some sort of divine sign that I should go and seek my hidden friends out?" Suika pondered. "Nah."

A few seconds afterwards, the two fairies emerged, one being pulled by the other, only to be showered by snow when a third fairy shook the branches above them.

The oni laughed. So far, not blowing them up was the right decision. Still, she'd have to find something to do before she did something really stupid. Like back when she found out how gods tasted. It had taken A LOT of alcohol to heal that particular incident. It must never happen again.

Suika shook her head. Drinking all day was fun, but sometimes her thoughts turned out weird. And if she spent another day drinking, she might wake up some place she'd rather not. At this rate, she was going to- Eureka! The sake (and probably the fairies as well) had once again given her inspiration, and a few weird thoughts here and there was a small price to pay for that.

To her relief, the fairies were busy laughing in the snow. They were an integral part of her plan. Activating her powers to gather, she approached the fairies, who only now noticed the horned girl.

"Hey guys. Want to help me pull off a prank on someone?"

*Ø*Ø*Ø

Marisa walked through the forest. It was a tough winter, of course, but some mushrooms like it that way. Since Marisa needed many different mushrooms for spells and research, she was forced out in this god-forsaken weather to look for white fungi on a white background. But hey, at least she wasn't cooped up in a library like some other magicians.

_Huh, I was pretty sure I had already searched this part of the forest, how did I end up here again? Hey, that's a philoglacies nightcap over th_-WHACK!

Someone thought it was a good idea to throw a snowball at the passing witch. Marisa immediately planned to show whoever it was that this was a bad idea.

"Yay, we startled the witch! Third round's on me tonight, girls!" a nearby fairy exclaimed, not realizing the stupidity of announcing your guilt to the number one exterminator and over-all awesome magician. She stood with a small group of other fairies, who were busy creating more small balls of snow.

But Marisa was in a merciful mood right now. Instead of atomizing them like she usually does (fairies respawn, so killing them's A-OK), she decided to give them a taste of their own medicine.

"Let's see if we can make the weakling shake in her boots!" the fairy, who was most likely the leader, shouted. Her fellow fairies gave her a rallying shout, some dropping their balls in the process.

Marisa immediately decided to pay them back tenfold. Literally.

She squatted down, slowly collecting snow until the fairies threw another ball. Then hell was unleashed. Marisa sidestepped, dodging the first shot launched by the clueless fairy. Marisa's own projectile was shot with a speed and precision that could impress (less arrogant) tengu, nailing a fairy right between the eyes. The defeated fairy fell cross-eyed to the ground, the snow dispersing to the side as she fell.

Seeing one of their own struck down so easily made a few of the childlike figures look a bit uneasy, but their leader's eyes were ablaze with vengeful fury.

"This one's for Cheryl, witch!" she bellowed as she continued the assault, prompting the rest of the fairies to regain their fervor and proceed to fire once more.

Unfortunately, Marisa wasn't a newbie to firefights. Following another sidestep, she plucked one of the oncoming snowballs out of the air and returned it before most of the fairies had even noticed what had happened.

"She's too strong; too strong to take on directly. Fairies! To the skies!" the fairies' leader commanded, obviously thinking that they were harder to hit when they could move in three dimensions.

"Aerial combat, eh? You really think that's enough?" Marisa muttered as she dodged a sphere falling down from above. She quickly scooped up another ball and proceeded to shoot another fairy down. It spiraled down in a chaotic manner while squealing like a child in a roller-coaster. "Even if you fly, it's no use if you don't dodge."

"Darn it." the main fairy cursed. Was there nothing that could hit this woman? Picking up snow from a nearby tree, she sighed. "We'll have to use that."

At that moment, the fairies changed tactics. Each holding a ball in their raised hands, they rained down upon the blonde girl from above. A recently developed fairy tactic, they charged forward while screaming like madwomen. Of course, it worked better in danmaku fights when they could surround themselves in fire and bullets, but they didn't seem to realize that. But since they wanted to fly to their doom that bad, Marisa decided to let them.

Naturally, at the last minute she began to weave in and out of the falling children, leaving them face first in the snow as she did so. Fairies were the kind of creature who'd never stop running forward unless something stopped them.

"I guess I've given them enough fun for now," Marisa said as the last fairy hit the ground. "It's time to end this."

Their leader had pulled herself out of the snow in the meantime, and now looked at Marisa with a pair of eyes that said "_Bring it!"_

And bring it she did. Using a speed and finesse, both fine-tuned through years of hard work, danmaku and borrowing she pelted the fairies with snow. Picking up and throwing the frozen water became one fluid motion. The few fairies who had recovered from their crash landing were struck again and again as the relentless attack went on. Their figurehead tried to dodge the barrage, but she simply couldn't do a thing.

In the end, Marisa left every single fairy buried in the surroundings before she went back to resume her work of which she had been so rudely interrupted.

And then she saw that the fairy she had blasted out of the sky somehow managed to smash right into the mushroom that Marisa had discovered.

"You know, I think this is a message from God," she said to no one in particular. "Clearly, I've done enough work for now and can afford to kick back and relax a little."

_Regardless, that little fight was actually fun. It's been far too long since I last had a good scrap, and longer still since I had a mundane one. Let's see if we can strike up one more._

Sure, it was colder than Hell was hot (and Marisa wore her winter clothes back then), but it would take more than a few minus degrees to bring down Marisa Kirisame!

Tugging her scarf, she ventured on to find another living soul. She had faced almost every soul worth mentioning in a battle of danmaku, but something as simple as flinging snow at each other was a surprisingly rare occurrence.

_Time to rectify that,_ Marisa thought, wandering through the enchanted forest. _As soon as I find someone to help me do it, of course. Fighting myself too much would just lead to personalities._

As if connected by some strange fate, Marisa happened to recognize the next figure she saw amongst the trees. Well, it wasn't that surprising actually. There weren't a lot of inhabitants in these woods, after all.

Still, Marisa was certain that Alice would provide an interesting match. Moreover, she was proud enough to begin a duel, yet friendly enough not to fry Marisa's face off as soon as it began.

Now, all that was required was a good initiation. The one the fairies used seemed good enough... But it needed a bit more _oomph_.

*Ø*Ø*

Alice was quietly on her way to the human village. Her newest creation, _the Copenhagen Dolls, _were coming along nicely, but she had hit a minor slump and needed a bit of fresh air. That, and she was in the mood for Yakitori. Might as well hit two birds with one stone.

However, her way to the village was abruptly stopped when a huge dose of snow came tumbling down upon her. The immediate cry of "Bull's eye!" and the following laughter told Alice beyond a shadow of doubt who was behind this.

"Marisa. You have 15 seconds to explain yourself before I blow you all the way to Hourai." Alice did her best not to sound angry as she emerged from the pile of snow that had gathered on her. After all, this wasn't a threat. It was simply a fact.

"Now, now, I wouldn't want any of that. I was just looking for a friendly duel, that's all." The witch was obviously not concerned with the fact that she had just buried the only reasonable creature to live within miles in snow, standing there with her hands behind her back.

"Usually when you challenge people, you go ahead and ask them." Alice commented. But then she remembered who she was talking to. "Or, in your case, fire a laser at them." Even though Alice tried, she couldn't help but calm down. This behavior was too much like Marisa to stay angry.

"Hey, I always start easily with a few stars!" Marisa objected, lacing her voice with false hurtfulness. "Besides, I never said it was a magical duel, now did I?"

"That was were you objected?.. Never mind. You're never one to be reasoned with." Alice sighed,_ this was Marisa alright_. "So what kind of duel is it anyways?" Her eyes widened when her mind reached the most dreadful conclusion.

"Don't tell me it's cleaning up your house!"

Marisa smiled softly, and replied in a dangerously sweet tone. "No... It's this!" And then she promptly threw her prepared snowball right at Alice's face.

Had she been a dimwitted fairy, the ball would have smacked the puppeteer right in her face. But Alice was, like Marisa, a veteran of many battles. An expected surprise attack like that had no chance of hitting her whatsoever.

"You know, this is pretty immature, even for you." Alice said, still keeping a watchful eye on the witch.

"Come on, you are only as old as you feel!" the black-white answered, her face adorned with a cheerful grin. A grin that soon turned into a mischievous smile. "You're just afraid I'll win."

Alice knew better. She really, really knew better than to do this. But... Marisa needed a lesson. And Alice would be the one to give it to her. The witch hadn't thought this little "match" through.

"Oh, really?" the puppeteer said, cracking up her own sweet voice. "I'm not afraid you'll win... I'm afraid I'll get bored."

With that said, both parties knew that the battle was on! Each dashing behind her own tree, the two inhabitants of the magical forest grabbed as much snow as fast as they could. Unfortunately for Alice, she was a bit too much of a perfectionist for this. Decades of being a craftsman had left her unable not to do a good work, even if it only was to be thrown away. Therefore, Marisa was the first to emerge, her weapon held high.

Upon spotting the seven-coloured girl, she threw the ball at her... Marisa knew it wouldn't work, Alice was no slouch. Therefore, Marisa had been prepared for when Alice would dodge out of the way, straight into her line of fire.

Had she paid enough attention, she would have seen the smirk on Alice's face.

_Just as planned_, Alice thought. Within an instant, Alice placed a doll in front of her, ready to take Marisa's attack. Armed with an (even if Alice did say so herself) impenetrable shield, this particular doll was the ultimate defense in this situation. And it wasn't alone.

Dolls of every kind emerged from Alice's hiding place. Scarlet, blue and white. French, Russian and London. It was an endless carnival of dolls, and they all served Alice with their lives. Alice _was_ their lives.

_Oh crap._ Marisa really should have seen this coming. Where Alice hid dolls of that number was a question Marisa had to answer later. For now, it was dodging time.

Unlike the rowdy mass of fairies Marisa fought before, this army was perfectly coordinated. Instead of just randomly throwing snowballs at her, they timed their attacks. When one doll had fired, the others could continue the barrage while it reloaded. The one weakness was that Alice herself was preoccupied controlling all of them, so she wasn't really a problem right now.

_Well, this sucks, _thought Marisa while another snowball whizzed past her ears. The fairies might not have been able to use their altitude properly, but Alice was a different story. As long as the dolls stayed up there, this battle was in the puppeteer's hands.

_And to make matters worse, they are propelled by magic! I can't just shoot the little bastards down. _Marisa ran through the woods, jumping up and down as randomly as she could to dodge the flying orbs thrown by the cute legion. She needed a change in her plan. Or rather a- OW! Those dolls threw hard- a change in scenery. Right now, the forest wasn't in her favour. The ground wasn't suited for running, and Alice had a steady supply of snow from the treetops.

Narrowly dodging a shot grazing her right ear, Marisa tripped over an old root hidden by the treacherous snow and tumbled downhill. She felt the snow trickling down her back, but judging by the lack of snowballs being thrown at her, she managed to roll out of Alice's sight. That was good.

_Wait a second; I recognize this part of the woods. Whew, this just might work out after all._

All Marisa had to do now was run in _that_ direction, with Alice in tow, and she'd be able to turn this around. She hoped.

"Come on out, Marisa! I know you are around here somewhere." Alice called out to her fellow magician, confirming that Marisa had succeeded in getting out of sight. "You aren't the type to go hiding just because things don't go the way you want."

_Damn straight, I aren't._

"Over here, Pooppeteer!"

"Pooppeteer? Oh, when I get my hands on you!"

Marisa had successfully drawn the puppeteer's attention. Now, it was running time. Thankfully, Alice couldn't fine-control her dolls and run at the same time. And as enraged as she was right now, she'd want to tear Marisa apart with her own hands. _Well, she has to catch me first! And soon, it will be time to show some tricks of my own!_

Running amongst the trees, Marisa spotted a clearing up ahead. With Alice following closely behind her (_was she always this fast?)_, she darted through it, arriving exactly where she meant to arrive at. The Hakurei shrine.

"This should be more equal ground, right, Alice?"

The dollmaker stopped up, trying to piece together what exactly the black-white meant. "Hoping to get help from Reimu, are you? Even with your powers combined, you can only reach 42.8571 percent of my own strength."

"I don't need her." Marisa stated silently, while she slowly pulled away from the puppeteer and out in the main field of the shrine. "I have all it takes to beat you right here!"

Alice smiled at her neighbor.

"Good to see you got your confidence back." Her smile darkened as the dolls around her readied another for another attack. "Too bad it won't do you any good."

As Marisa expected, the dolls flew towards her. She dodged their silent attack with ease, given that Alice had yet to put them into a proper formation following the chase. Of course, that respite wouldn't last long.

Despite this, a cunning smile emerged on the brown eyed girl. In one quick movement, she pulled a flask out of her apron, opened it and poured its contents unto a snowball. The snow hardened with an unearthly cracking as the potion did its work.

"You didn't think you were the only one with an ace in your sleeve, did you?" Marisa launched her newly enhanced ball at the seven-coloured magician, who once again raised a shielding doll to block the attack. The marionette took the attack straight on. As the shield made contact with the ball, an explosion of light blinded Alice. When she regained her eyesight, her doll had become encased in solid ice.

"An ice-generating potion?"

"You don't walk through the forest during this winter without learning that freezing sucks."

"I still don't see why you had to illuminate the entire area."

"Hey, if it ain't flashy, it ain't magic. You should have learned that by now."

Alice sighed. That was Marisa in a nutshell. "No matter, take this!"

And the battle continued. Whenever she had the chance, Marisa used her potion to take out Alice's dolls, but the puppeteer made sure that she rarely got the chance. Clumps of snow flew through the air like food in a cartoonish food fight. Marisa had taken several hits, but so far Alice's defense had been impregnable. Despite losing several doll defenders, she still had enough to guard against Marisa's attacks.

Taking cover behind a pile of snow (from back when Reimu was convinced the lack of a clear road kept visitors from coming), Marisa evaluated her situation.

_Damn, she was supposed to have run out by now. How many dolls can that freakin' dress hide? I mean, it's not like they can be in her bra! _The witch searched around, checking for any doll ambushes. To her surprise, though, she noticed that not only was there no dolls (she couldn't decide whether that was good or not), but the battlefield had also changed ever so slightly. "Oho? I can use this mist."

Creating a new ice-ball, she dashed out of her cover and prepared to strike Alice down. It looked like the puppeteer had similar plans though, as a huge snowball, roughly 60 centimeters wide, flew towards the ordinary witch. Marisa jumped to the ground to avoid it, spotting Alice out of the corner of her eye during the process. A split second before hitting the pure snow, she fired her ball at her seven coloured adversary. That was when things began to go worse.

Tumbling across the white landscape, Marisa looked to see the results of her attack. And she was promptly struck right in her face by the snowball she dodged earlier. It turned out that Alice had hidden a doll inside it and used that to gain a huge homing snowball. The freezing ball didn't work nearly as intended either. Marisa had expected it to utilize the vapor in the mist in order to grow on its way to Alice and smash through her dolls. Unfortunately, it had for some reason decided to stay the same size the entire time and end its days stuck on a doll like it was its brothers and sisters.

_Why is the universe against me today? Is this karma for stealing Reimu's cookies yesterday?_

Releasing a sigh, Marisa wiped her face clear of snow and took a deep breath. If she'd given up every time she faced hardships, her collection would be far smaller than it currently is.

_Wait a second, what is this smell?_

She sniffed a few more times just to make sure, and every time she did her suspicions grew. This could be bad.

"Hey Alice!" "What is it? Conceding defeat yet?"

"Do you also smell that?" Alice sniffed a little, her eyes opening in wonder (while never leaving Marisa out of sight for a second)."Isn't this sake?" She asked, reaching the same conclusion that Marisa did.

Seeing how Alice understood, the witch answered: "I think so," she then added, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That it's time to end this charade and reveal myself as the true mastermind of these occurrences?" A new voice echoed around the empty shrine-grounds as the mist slowly lifted and took the shape of a young girl.

"I was actually thinking something along the lines of "_It's time to team up and beat the drunken loli responsible to a pulp",_ but your plan works as well, " Marisa turned to face the new challenger. "It was _**I**_ who started this whole mess! Totally not a group of fairies!"

Alice looked at her neighbor in disbelief.

"Didn't you just say that Suika was responsible?"

"Yes, but she thought it was a good time to claim that I planned this, so I did."

"I had hoped a few more would show up before I was discovered, but I guess I can't have everything," Suika Ibuki said, completely ignoring Marisa's outburst. "I'll just have to make do with you two!"

The now fully-materialized oni held out her open hand and unleashed her unfathomable power. The magicians saw the very snow around them getting pulled into the palm of the Deva, forming a ball of concentrated ice crystals. Marisa did the first thing that came into mind. She dashed as quickly as her legs could carry her behind Alice, using her as a human (well, youkai) shield. Alice herself hardly noticed the hiding witch as she moved her remaining dolls into a shield wall in front of her. Challenging an oni to a battle of pure power is usually the same as suicide, but Alice had faith in her dolls.

**Gather Sign: "Snow-covered Mt. Togakushi"**

Her faith was misplaced.

By the time Suika launched her attack, the ball had the mass of a small boulder and Suika wasn't lacking in strength either. The poor dolls were smashed aside as the crushing sphere cruised through their formations. Alice hardly had time to think "_Oh crap."_ before Suika's attack literally exploded in her face, showering Marisa in snow while Alice was thrown backwards into a huge pile of snow.

Marisa was speechless. She had been the victim of Suika's throw many times (heck, she had _been_ Suika's throw many times), but this amount of firepower still amazed her. That was about 15 dolls that were blown away like mere leaves! Marisa knew that she wouldn't be able to take a hit like that, so she had to follow the hallowed words of advice she first said when she battled Reimu during the everlasting night. "Shoot and I'll move. Fast."

Suika's mood was predictably bright. "Bulls eye, score one for the oni." The little pandemonium took a huge gulp of sake, satisfied with her first strike. "Let's see if we can get a human magician as well." Even though Marisa was currently scurrying for cover, the snow of the Hakurei shrine once more traveled to the hand of the horned girl. Suika had less patience this time, this time attacking before the ball had reached even half the size of the previous. Of course, this meant that Marisa had only reached halfway to cover when she had to dive to the ground.

The shot that defeated Alice passed over Marisa's head and only managed to knock down a tree. This showed the witch beyond a shadow of doubt that Suika's shots were to be dodged and not parried. Before Suika charged up another shot, Marisa managed to reach the edge of the woods. Taking cover behind a tree, she contemplated her current situation.

"This is bad, I didn't expect her to show up." the witch said. This was an opponent she couldn't beat on her own, without cheating. And she really wanted to beat the oni legally, just to shove it in her face. Scooping up a little snow to make a token resistance, she narrowly dodged another of Suika's bullets. "By Lady Mima, I need Alice to wake up soon! Either that, or a distraction..."

*Ø*Ø*Ø

"D-damn, it's c-cold out h-here... Oh. I-it a-appears that t-they've already b-b-begun."

"Then what are you waiting for! Get us moving right now!"

"E-easy for you to s-say, G-God, it's cold..."

"Is that so? I don't think it's that cold..."

"Free~ Free~ Freezing little bug~"

"S-stop that! I-it's freaking f-freezing in here."

"Stop blabbering, guys! It is time for the strongest to arrive!"

*Ø*Ø*Ø

Alice's head felt like it had been pummeled repeatedly by Reimu's gohei. It hadn't hurt like this since she accidentally got hit by an avalanche made of Marisa's collection. She was practically buried in snow (which also reminded her of that avalanche) and most of her dolls had been smashed. That wasn't really a problem though. Using dolls to fight also carried the risk of getting those dolls destroyed, so one of the first things Alice learned in her training as a puppeteer was how to reform her dolls through magic. Mass-producing them was out of the question anyways; you can't possibly pour all the required love into all of them so fast. Doll creation is a slow and delicate process. Doll recreation, on the other hand, is simply pulling the strings of the the dolls limbs to its body and tying them back together. Routine work for someone of Alice's skills.

The newly reborn dolls helped their master to her feet. Still groggy from the blow, her beloved creations helped to keep her steady. Alice took a look at her surroundings, trying to find the oni who did this to her. Giving payback was Alice's top priority right now. Besides kicking Marisa's shin for dragging her into this.

Alice was speechless. The entire battlefield had changed. Whereas before the snow had been spread roughly equally across the entire area, there was now huge patches where all the snow was gone, while enormous piles of snow where placed randomly everywhere. Given that Alice herself had emerged from such a pile, it didn't take a lunarian to figure out how they had appeared. This wasn't a snowball fight, it was a war-zone.

A roar interrupted Alice's thoughts, and she turned to see 5 Suikas trying to blast a running Marisa. They didn't stop their barrage for anything other than high-fiving each other when they managed to knock Marisa's hat off. If the witch had acknowledged Alice's presence, she didn't show it. But this was a perfect spot for part two of her schedule. Her dolls picked up snow, as much as they could carry. They shoved it into a giant ball, so huge it was only by a group effort it didn't crumble, and prepared to give the oni(s) a healthy dose of her own medicine. Only one of the targets noticed the shadow looming above them, and even then it was too late. Every Suika, no matter her size, was buried underneath the white powder. Marisa wasted no time in regaining her hat, and proceeded to run past Alice at full speed.

"Haven't you got something to say, black-white?" the puppeteer commented.

"Of course," Marisa replied, scouting across the field. "The snack you hid inside your wardrobe was very delicious and I was sure there was one around here."

"Hey, I was saving that one!" Alice didn't want to know why Marisa had been in her wardrobe, she probably wouldn't like the answer.

"Hey, you know what they say. She who saves for the night, saves for the blight."

"Who says that? Ugh, no matter. I think we need to team up to beat Suika. She has proven to be an even bigger problem than you."

"You severely underestimate me, but I agree with you about teami-Ah! Here it was!" Marisa seemed to have found that which she searched for. A crystallized snowball, created by Marisa's potion mastery.

"These buggers could only freeze her arm for a few seconds, but they still strike harder than regular balls." Alice looked at the small sphere. An idea began to form in her head.

"You know, if you could give me your freezing potion and a diversion, I cou-" An earthquake appeared out of nowhere and interrupted the puppeteer's words. The nearby trees flung snow everywhere as the ground underneath them began to tremble. Caught by surprise, the magicians fell to their knees. Bewildered, Alice questioned her neighbor.

"What was that?"

"I call it a diversion." Marisa said and threw Alice a black bottle. "Here's the potion, I'm gonna go and make sure Suika stays diverted."

"Good luck!"

*Ø*Ø*Ø

Suika sprung forth from the snow with a mighty warcry. Despite the fact that she had been kept completely covered by snow in God knows how long, she didn't shiver from the cold. It was pure excitement. Most oni disliked surprise attacks like the one Alice pulled, but Suika considered them a fine spice in the cuisine called war. Of course, she herself was about as sneaky as she was sober.

"That was a good scrap," she said, reached down for her gourd. "And now a little sake to warm the body back up." She took a healthy gulp of the good stuff. Now, to find to escapees and show them how a blizzard on Mt. Atlas feels! Suika began to step forward, but stopped as she began thinking (_Darn sake_). There was something off by this whole ordeal. Suika couldn't quite put her finger on it. It wasn't the fact that Marisa and Alice were out of sight, they were probably just preparing some kind of counter. No, it was something else. That was when Suika noticed a growing shadow underneath her.

_Aw crap, not again!_

**Keystone: "World Creation Press" **

A girlish voice boomed as a ginormous keystone descended upon the defenseless ground. Suika dispersed into mist as fast as she could and narrowly managed to dodge the crushing force of a meteor. The earth itself shook with incredible force as the trees couldn't lose their white colourations quickly enough.

_That was what I had forgotten! I used my gathering powers all morning and only two showed up!_

Suika reformed, and turned to face the new arrival. Not that she needed any confirmation on her identity. The blue-haired girl stood tall upon the rock now embedded in the earth. With a flick of her long hair, she announced her arrival.

"I, Tenshi Hinanawi, have descended from the heavens above to relieve you of your inevitable boredom! Now, let us fight till dawn, since no one can be bored when they are struggling for their life!"

"Tenshi!" Suika shouted at her neighbor. "I thought your parents grounded you for trying to cut off your father's moustache while he was sleeping."

"They did. And I am at the ground now, aren't I?" the celestial said, with a logic that worked far too well on the intoxicated oni. With a wave, Suika beckoned the young daughter of heaven closer.

"Anyways, it's good to see you. I am in the middle of a snowball fight against Marisa and Alice, and together we cou-"

Suika's next words were muffled by a lot of snow getting kicked right in her face.

"Hah! Backstabbed by your own neighbor!" Tenshi said, while having trouble controlling her laughter. "How I've missed the shortsightedness of earth-dwellers! You are way more interesting than my _friends_ up in heaven!"

Suika wiped her face clean of snow. "So you want a fight? I'll give you one!"

Gathering snow in her hand once more, Suika prepared her devastating attack.

**Gather Sign: "Snow-covered Mt. Togakushi"**

Tenshi, however, didn't feel threatened by the attack. This was far from the first fight she and Suika had fought, so she knew the oni's strength. And her own toughness. She breathed in, and braced for impact.

**Temperament: "State of Enlightenment"**

Suika's snowball blasted into the blue-haired celestial, pushing her several feet backwards. Despite this, Tenshi didn't flinch. She didn't even blink as the ball exploded into several metric cubes of snow, and only viewed he hill of snow now surrounding her as a mountain of ammunition.

"Was that all you had?" Tenshi asked the drunk. Without waiting for a reply, she picked up as much snow as her arms could carry, and threw it at Suika. The huge pile of snow flew for two seconds, before landing a few meters in front of Tenshi.

**.**

**.**

**.**

"Don't look at me like that, it never snows in Heaven!" Tenshi shouted, breaking the awkward silence following her ineffective attack.

And that was the final straw. Suika couldn't hold it back any longer. She laughed. She laughed like she hadn't done since Reimu had accidentally put her sarashi outside her shrine maiden outfit.

"BWAHAHAHA! You can't even make a snowball! The mighty Tenshi is weaker than even a fairy! Oh, this is hilarious!" By now Suika was literally rolling on the snow-filled ground, laughing her butt off. The one being laughed at simply walked over to the rolling oni, took a fawn full snow and threw it onto the oni. That didn't stop her laughing streak, but it did reduce the volume of it.

Tenshi usually wasn't a sore loser. She could appreciate a stronger opponent, and she knew that she couldn't win every battle. But hearing an oni nearly choke from her own guffawing was more than she could take.

"That's it; I'm not playing with you anymore." Tenshi pouted as she turned away from Suika, completely ignoring the hat she saw lying behind a pile of snow. The celestial mumbled something about a maid as she flew off towards the Misty Lake. Suika didn't really care though; she'd gotten entertainment enough to last weeks. When she finally came to her senses, Marisa stood boldly in front of her. The ordinary witch took a deep breath, and said: "Suika Ibuki! Your mom makes fairies look intelligent by comparison!"

Having said that she proceeded to run away from the oni, who simply commented: "Only when she's sober..." before she gave chase. She knew it was a trap, but she was in too good a mood to care.

*Ø*Ø*Ø

Alice's plan so far had been a success. Tenshi had proven to be a gift from the heavens, distracting Suika so well that Marisa could easily go back to Alice to learn the intricacies of her "un-spoken plan". Which was why she was now oni bait. _This isn't so hard. In fact, I'm sure Alice could have done this herself. How was it she dragged me into this again? Oh yeah, she-_A snowball whizzed past Marisa's ear, ending her thoughts immediately. The witch was constantly amazed at how accurate oni were when they were drunk. She wouldn't have to dodge for long, though. Her role in this play would soon be over. Just for fun, though, the part-time thief decided to throw in another taunt.

"Hey, Suika! Is it true that if you feed an oni alcohol made with beans, they explode in a combination of pain and delight?"

A snowball smacked into her face as an answer. "Nobody has ever had the guts to try, human." Suika said as she walked towards the fallen witch. "Still, it was a nice try."

The very second Suika's foot touched the ground in front of Marisa, the snow around her exploded as several snowballs bursted forth from the ground and floated around the oni. As they appeared, Alice stepped forth from behind a tree.

"This is it!" She shouted and twisted her fingers to command her dolls.

**War Command: "Frozen Doll's War"**

The spheres around Suika moved inwards, bludgeoning the oni before rebounding and moving in again. Judging by their irritating hardiness and the fact that they froze like hell, these snowballs where enhanced by Marisa's potion. Suika did what she could to block them, but they approached from all directions. She didn't even have time to dematerialize, but she did manage to crack a few of the balls. The smashed balls fell to the ground revealing a doll inside.

_Well, that explains everything._ _Still, it takes more than that to keep me down!_

After several seconds of non-stop bludgeoning, the dolls fell to the ground. Alice had run out of energy, and this was an opportunity Suika wasn't going to let slip. With great speed she lunged for the dollmaker, and with the oni's trademark strength she seized her collar. Alice could do nothing to prevent the deva from jumping to the skies and swing her around at terrible speed. Suika summoned all of her gathering powers, drawing as much snow as she could from her surroundings and onto the poor magician. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Marisa trying to scurry off, seeing their "marvelous plan" had failed. Suika saw this as a perfect opportunity to shoot two magicians with one snowball. With a final heave, she pulled the final amount of snow and prepared to throw the hapless Alice.

**Gather Sign: "Snow-covered Mt. Atl..."**

Suika's attack stopped before it even started. Staring disbelievingly into the distance, she let her weapon drop (relatively) harmlessly onto the ground. She even doubted for a second whether or not she should have any more sake. But then again. It was far from every day that you saw a tank made of ice in Gensokyo.

*Ø*Ø*Ø

"Why aren't we there yet? I gave the order to move out ages ago." Cirno practically shouted inside the cramped vehicle. As one might have guessed, she was far from pleased with the "speed" things were going.

"You s-should just be h-h-happy that the I-ice Ants have an i-inverted hib-bernation cycle. Otherwise, w-we c-couldn't move at a-all." was Wriggle's answer. She had been in charge of moving the tank, and was currently in the process of freezing her butt off. "C-couldn't you have m-made this t-thing a b-b-bit lighter? T-they'd move f-faster like t-that."

"Guys~ We're soon there~" Mystia said in her sing-song voice, looking out through the clear ice Cirno had created as a vision slit. They moved through the undergrowth, a process that slowed their already low speed. "Soon~. Oh~so~soon~, we'll begin the battle~"

"Is that so? Goodie, sitting around here is boring." Rumia, the last member of their group said. She herself longed to straighten her arms once again, a thing that was simply impossible to do in here. "Let us give them a snowball hell!"

"That's the spirit, Rumia!" Cirno said, pointing her finger at her comrade. "Privates, we are going into a warzone! The fairies mentioned the horned devil, Suika Ibuki herself! I have once met her in battle myself, and trust me; she is a force to be reckoned with."

With all her might, Cirno slapped her hand against the wall of the tank. "That is why I hewed this mighty tank, the Super Cirno Shrine Maiden Crusher Tank Mk. 1, from an enormous ice block with my own hands! To protect us from her fearsome power while giving us plenty of opportunity to strike back."

Striking her hand against her chest, she bellowed: "COMRADES, WE CAN DO IT!"

Rumia and Mystia roared in agreement, though Wriggle seemed less sure of the "plan".

"Ah! There they are~!" Mystia exclaimed, pointing as much as she could in the close quarters.

"Great, now's the time to begin!" Cirno commanded. "Rumia, activate the stealth generator!"

"Understood, Cirno!" responded Rumia, before expanding her darkness out to cover the entirety of the tank.

"Good job, Rumia. Now, I'll lead the attack." the ice-fairy said, before stumbling towards the hatch.

Though no one could see it, Wriggle began silently counting on her fingers. "One. Two. T-three..."

In the meantime, Cirno had opened the hatch, and looked out to see where her targets were. Unfortunately, she couldn't see anything other than darkness and something was inches away from hitting her face. The reality of the situation hit her like a ton of bricks as she went back down the hatch. "Guys, the stealth generator has an inherent design flaw!"

"25 s-seconds. G-good t-hing I d-didn't bet anyt-thing." Wriggle said, having seen the design flaw ages ago. She even predicted the plethora of snowballs hitting the front of their vehicle right now.

"Is that so?"

"Rumia-chan~. That means you should call the darkness back~."

"Is that so? Okay!" And with that, the dark sphere shrank until it disappeared into nothingness.

Cirno wiped some sweat of her forehead. "Our attack didn't go exactly as planned, and so what? My Super Cirno Shrine Maiden Crusher Tank Mk. 1's armor is still invinci-" Cirno's words had hardly left her mouth before the entire tank shook and turned, as if an earthquake had occurred.

*Ø*Ø*Ø

Suika was at a loss of words. First of all, that was a freaking ice-tank. Second, the ice tank didn't drive, it sorta crawled instead. Third, it decided to suddenly devour all light around it for half a minute for seemingly no reason. Lastly, and this was by far the worst, it shook off her tightly packed snowball thrown with all her strength with no sign for the worse, besides shaking a little. Now _that_ was just irritating. Even though Suika was incredibly tough, even she was beginning to get exhausted by the sustained fighting. She needed some sort of relief. Like taking another gulp of her beloved gourd.

"Now, what to do. Should I catch Marisa and do an Atlas with the hopes of smashing that annoying ice-box. Or perhaps should I just go up there and tear it apart with my own hands..."

"Nah, that would be cheating. You should just give me one of your famous snowballs and watch me take that abomination out."

"Yeah, you're probably... Wait a second, that voice was-" Suika turned around to see the new arrival. Towering above her stood a 6-feet tall woman with a torso that was ripped with muscles. Her most striking feature, however was the blood red, star adorned horn placed in the middle of her forehead. A smile split Suika's face in two as she recognised the oni in front of her.

"YUUGI! Old pal, how've you been? Been drinking properly? You look a little sober. I thought you said that you weren't gonna come up here."

"Hey Suika, the parties just weren't the same after you and your gourd left." Yuugi reached down and gave her old friend a tight hug. "And I never said I wouldn't join you. I said I'd come when Hell froze over."

"What a second, are you saying that-" Suika looked questioning at the other deva.

Yuugi nodded in response. "Yup, Reiuji went into hibernation, taking the flames of Hell with her."

"But tha-... It doesn-... I am too drunk to realize that doesn't make sense!" Suika declared, throwing her hands out to demonstrate her point. Yuugi laughed at her friend's antics.

"Good to see the fresh air hasn't gotten to your head, Suika!" Yuugi turned towards the other threat, the fairy powered tank. She cracked her knuckles as she seized her opponent up. "Now, let us show that big slush-ice how the four devas roll!"

Suika smiled. This reminded her of their old adventures scaling the mountains of myths. Although even Mt. Hourai didn't have something like this. With all her strength, she pressed the snow together. This was all of her gathering power combined with her own fearsome strength. The result was a small, yet very heavy sphere of snow, which Suika handed to the taller oni.

Yuugi gladly took the weapon, keeping a tight grip on it to keep it under pressure and in its current form. She had the tank, which was currently busy trying to shoot the ordinary magician to smithereens in her sight. She took a step back, leaned backwards, lifted her arm and threw the ball with all of her might. To say that this was a powerful shot would be an understatement. To say that it was a normal shot would be an outright lie, even with the standards this fight had run by so far. Possibly the strongest non-magical snowball in existence thrown by the one even oni call the Strong. Its power was so immense it could even punch a hole in one of Shikieiki's lectures. Needless to say, it passed right through Maiden Crusher's ice-armor and struck Cirno right in her solar plexus, throwing her into the other end of her creation and knocking the air out of her. After this, the snowball fell apart and returned to its previous state of several cubic meters of snow. On the other side of the battlefield, the two oni highfived each other.

"Nice shooting, Yuugi."

"Couldn't have done it without your skills, Suika."

*Ø*Ø*Ø

"S-seriously. She t-tells us that t-the oni is d-d-dangerous and then p-proceeds to i-ignore her," Wriggle said once she had carved her way out of the now snow filled cabin. "Oh, God, this is c-cold..."

Next to her, Rumia and Mystia popped out of their own piles. Despite being more suited for the cold of the night, even they started to feel the chill of winter. Mystia rubbed her upper torso in an attempt to warm herself up, a feat that Rumia thought impossible.

"Cold!" Mystia exclaimed. The night-sparrow was freezing too much to maintain her usual speech pattern, her white breath simply not allowing it.

"It's not just Wriggle freezing anymore..." Rumia said, who usually found the long winter nights to be her favourite time of year. However, those nights usually didn't involve snowball fights either. Or oni. Or the sun. In fact, Rumia could find many things with this she didn't like. "How did Cirno get us into this?"

"D-didn't she j-just ask?" Mystia asked herself, seeing how that was the reason she joined up. It looked as if a bulb was lit in Rumia's mind.

"Oh yeah. I forgot."

Finally, Cirno slowly began to stir in the back of the tank. The ferocious attack had turned her world upside down, and now she could hardly move a muscle out of pure pain. It felt nice being slammed into so much snow, though. Holding her paining forehead, the ice fairy groaned. "Ow... How can snow hurt so much? Snow's good..." Wriggle pulled herself fully out of the snow, and began the process of getting Rumia out as well.

"R-Rumia! You and I n-need to d-distract t-the oni," the firefly said, having pulled her fellow youkai out of the snow. "We c-can't t-take another b-blow like t-that."

"Okay!"

"Mystia, you s-stay here and make s-sure that Cirno g-gets ready to f-fight a-again," Wriggle then commanded. "S-she s-sounded like she a-actually had something to b-beat them."

"Understood, Wriggle!"

"Rumia, here we go!" Wriggle said as she opened the hatch and flew out of the top of the tank, followed closely by Rumia, who had donned her usual black sphere.

Wriggle spotted the two oni standing side by side on the snow-covered ground. The smaller of the two, who according to Cirno was named Suika, was busy creating a new snowball, while the taller one was simply standing proud and watching the oncoming youkai. Which meant that the distraction plan worked so far. Wriggle flew low above the ground and scooped up some snow. If she was going to distract the oni, she was going to do it properly. With all her strength, the firefly threw the ball at the tall oni (the one who had caused such terrible damage to their tank). To Wriggle's horror, it just bounced off her chest. She didn't even flinch.

_I guess the fabled strength of oni was true enough. Still, Cirno's unbeatable on this battlefield. We just need to buy her time._

Now, the large oni picked up a small amount of snow. Just a tiny amount. As the huge girl pulled her arm back, Wriggle knew what she had to do. "Rumia! Evasive maneuvers!"

"Got it!" The youkai of darkness had long ago learned to follow her friend's advice when it came to stuff like this. She couldn't see anything herself, so having Wriggle as her eyes really helped her avoid trees and other nasties. Not that she had any problem hearing what was coming her way though, seeing as it broke the sound barrier. One of the oni (Rumia couldn't tell them apart right now) must have thrown something with incredible speed and power. Simply flying next to the object was almost enough to make the small youkai crash, but she managed to stabilize using her arms. And people thought she only held her arms like this for symbolism.

"How far away are they now, Wriggle?"

"We are still a while away," Wriggle turned to the dark winged-girl. "Though as we close in, I might not be able to warn you in time, so keep your ears out."

"Of course."

After seeing the two, by youkai standards, young girls dodge the initial attack, Yuugi decided to play a little trick on them."Suika, I'm gonna borrow a little of the snow here, okay?"

Suika looked up at the other oni. Yuugi's plans were always a laugh, and it had been years since she had last seen one. "Sure, go ahead. I've got more than enough here."

"Great."

Yuugi took a step forward. It would take a few seconds before her opponents were in range. Time best spent preparing. The oni slammed her feet in the ground, digging each of them into position. The very second Wriggle and Rumia got too close, Yuugi kicked with all her tremendous might, launching enormous amounts of snow with the kinetic force of a meteor.

**Feat of Strength: "Blizzard on Mt. Ooe"**

The shockwave from the kick released even more snow, causing a veritable storm of snow to fly towards the two unfortunate souls. Wriggle had little to no time to react, much less scream any kind of warning. The insect youkai weaved in and out of a barrage the likes of which she hadn't seen since the everlasting night. She felt the snow graze against her skin, and heard the muddled scream as Rumia was blasted out of the air. Wriggle had to take great care not to end up like her friend, especially given that danmaku never was her forte. She had always been better at smacking people down in close quarters. Well, oni weren't the only one who could kick snow!

With all her strength, Wriggle turned in mid air and countered one of the snowballs flying towards her. It made her leg hurt like it had been broken in five, but it made passing through safer. Legs weren't needed for flying anyways. Because of the sacrifice, Wriggle had made it through the attack. Rumia would have to come later; the firefly youkai was going to strike now!

Wriggle began to circle the oni, with Yuugi standing impressed and Suika continuing to work on the snowball. Wriggle couldn't help but notice that this snowball was unsettlingly larger than the former. Slowly vibrating her antennae, she sent a signal to her sleeping kinsmen. A cry for backup. Slowly, but surely, she felt her call answered by the slowly awakening bugs. She heard them slowly crawl out of their nests and come to her aid. They spread their wings out wide, and flew alongside Wriggle to circle the two oni.

**Unseasonal Swarm: "Wintertime Firefly Storm"**

An obscuring swarm of fireflies now surrounded Yuugi and Suika, their unending buzzing echoing across the abandoned Hakurei Shrine. Suika sent an upwards glance to her companion.

"All this noise because you couldn't squash one little bug, eh?" She handed Yuugi the now finished snowball. "Make sure to utterly demolish the tank this time; making these is getting tiresome."

"Sorry, but that'll have to wait a little." Yuugi threw the weapon back to Suika. "I can't get an aim on the tank like this, so I'll have to remove these pests first."Yuugi cracked her knuckles, preparing for the onslaught yet to come. "This will remove all snow in the area, so hang on to that ball, will ya?"

"You know me, once I grab something I never let it go."

"Except soap." Yuugi said with a smile, and smashed her foot into the ground. The earth trembled and crumbled underneath the mighty girl's foot, all the snow in the vicinity was launched into the air, kept floating by Yuugi's willpower alone.

"One."

*Ø*Ø*Ø

Meanwhile, Wriggle had retreated to a safe distance. Her plan had worked perfectly, if one ignored the excruciating pain in her leg. Fireflies might not be the most intelligent of all insects, but they could fly in circles just fine.

_What's keeping Cirno? I can't keep them like this forever. Heck, the only reason this works so well is because they don't take us seriously._

Suddenly, the ground Wriggle stood on shook and she watched with dread as the snow began levitating. _Oh crap. That can't be good._

Wriggle had to do something. She didn't know when Cirno would be ready, and therefore she had to draw as much time as possible. And those oni were preparing something VERY devastating right now. Thankfully, Wriggle saw the dark sphere that was Rumia stir a little on the ground further away. The firefly youkai would need the assistance, if she was going to have even a sliver hope against the oni.

"Rumia! Follow the sound of fireflies! We need them down, NOW!" Wriggle followed her own advice by flying into the swarm and throwing as much snow she could get her hands on. Rumia joined the din as well, striking with a terrific accuracy for someone who was blind as a bat. Unfortunately, the oni just took it in stride. The tall oni lifted her right and took a huge step towards the perimeter of the swarm. As Yuugi's foot smashed into the now bare laid ground, the entire swarm of fireflies stopped dead in their tracks. They remained suspended in the air, but they couldn't move a single muscle. Wriggle too tried to move her limbs, her instincts screamed at her to flee, flee and never look back. But there was nothing she could do. She was now fully in the hands of the oni.

"Two."

**Four Deva's Arcanum:**

"Ah, here it comes!" Suika said with a huge smile on her face. "It's been a while since I last saw this technique."

Wriggle, Rumia and hundreds of insects could do nothing but stare (well, Rumia would if she could, and she was certainly listening in) at the show, floating amongst the snow. All there was to do was wait until Yuugi decided to end it. The one whose strength even awed oni took a deep breath, before plunging her foot into the ground and smashing the air with a powerful punch.

**"Whiteout in Three Steps"**

The second Yuugi's fist crushed the air, everyone and everything floating around was blasted to kingdom come. Trees were flattened, the shrine's donation box was buried underneath tons of snow and the torii gate got disturbingly close to breaking in half.

Yuugi and Suika enjoyed the carnage. One of the rules of oni parties is that the less was left standing at the end, the better a party it was.

This was the best party either of them had been in since the four devas broke up.

"You know Suika, you really have to come underground again."

"Why don't you guys come up here? There are humans who don't cheat now, it's a blast!"

"Nah, the underground is my home. I haven't climbed all the pits of Hell yet."

"You're as stubborn as always."

"You too."

"We aren't done here yet, though. Let's finish this, Yuugi the Strong." Suika said as she handed the final snowball to Yuugi.

"Let us, Suika of a Thousand Tricks." Yuugi stretched her muscular arms, before turning towards where she last saw Cirno's tank.

She found it just in time to see the 30 centimeter barrel of the Shrine Maiden Crusher aiming right at her.

*Ø*Ø*Ø

_I apologize for leaving you like this, guys, but I have to do this!_

Mystia was dragging a large bag that was previously tied to the back of the tank. It was rude to do something like this without any warning, but Mystia was a business woman. And this was a golden opportunity. Besides, she had made sure Cirno had woken up and knew what to do, so it wasn't like she was disobeying orders, only going AWOL. _There. This should be far enough._

This was a few hundred meters away from the main battle, far away enough to be reasonably safe and yet within walking distance. Mystia made a makeshift stand out of the stuff she had brought in her bag. The few lamprey eels (supply was low in winter times) and a stove to fry them on was a bit tricky to get into the cloth bag, but the night sparrow had managed somehow. Now all she had to do was wait for the tired and cold customers to come flying by. She didn't expect them to literally come flying by, though. Marisa had been dragged along by the quintillion tons of snow that had been launched by Yuugi's attack, and only managed to avoid getting blown and afterwards crushed against a tree by careful dodging and years of danmaku experience. She had also managed to reach the ground relatively safely by digging her nails into the dirt as soon as she had the chance. It had hurt, and her nails looked like Yuuka Kazami had been clipping them, but at least she was alive. And look, there was Mystia's lamprey stand! Marisa looked up at the one youkai who actually worked for her money (scratch that that actually worked), who seemed a bit... stunned at Marisa's sudden and nail biting appearance. "Hey Myschin, how's business going?"

"A bit slow, but that's to be expected this time of year. How about yours?"

"Not so good either, Patchouli has improved her security systems and Erin has _somehow_ managed to create an anti-thievery barrier. It'll take some time to get through it." Marisa sighed as she rose from the ground. "Oh, but the mushroom harvest has gone well this winter."

"I was referring to your second-hand shop."

"Oh, that one? Nobody has come by for ages, so there's nothing new there."

"Too bad. Would you like a lamprey and some nice sake?"

"Sure, just put it on my tab."

"You know, that tab is so long I need Keine's help to keep track of it."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll pay you once I get my hands on Byakuren's treasure."

"I don't kno-"

"If you don't serve me, I'll call Yuyuko."

"One lamprey eel, coming up!" Marisa leaned up against the stand. This had been a rough day... She had been assaulted by fairies, assaulted by Alice (just where had that girl gone off to, anyways?) and assaulted by a freaking tank! She deserved a break.

"Say Marisa, who is that over there?" Mystia asked her customer. "Here's your eel, by the way."

"Say, isn't that-"

*Ø*Ø*Ø

Cirno aimed the main cannon at the two chatting oni, and she was pissed. She could handle a few punches and appreciate a prank well done, but NO ONE, not even the second sun of Hell or the Gap Hag herself, was blasting Cirno's friends and getting away with it! This would be the final, no, the strongest attack. Cirno had spent her time concentrating, she had felt her power flow through her veins. The atmosphere around her had dropped to degrees unimaginable to anyone who wasn't an ice fairy as snowballs had formed in Cirno's hands. This was her way of attacking, a way no one could replicate.

Loading the ammunition into the barrel of the tank, Cirno gave the mental order to fire. Using her ice manipulating powers, the snowballs were propelled towards the oni with unwavering accuracy. Cirno fired again and again. Wriggle's and Rumia's sacrifices had bought Cirno time enough, and there was no way she was going to let it go to waste.

**Nine Ice Ball Minus K Delivery**

When Cirno thought about it, it was funny. She had once met an outsider who claimed that after a certain point, things couldn't get any colder. Shows what he knew. He had talked of things such as an "absolute zero" and what not. Perhaps it wasn't something a weakling like him could see, but Cirno knew. It could always get colder. No matter how frozen the situation, Cirno could freeze it harder. That was why she was the strongest, after all. Drawing upon the infinite depths of coldness, these shots froze the very atmosphere they moved through. Letty had always told Cirno to "respect the natural order" and "not to go around breaking the laws of physics", but she had never cared about stuff like that. And the shots now flying through the air were as cold as they could get, colder than the deepest depths of the freezing Hell (not that Cirno had ever been there). So cold that a banana would explode merely by being around them. And that, Cirno told herself, was the strongest attack.

*Ø*Ø*Ø

Suika saw the snowballs, all nine of them, fly out of the tank, right at her and Yuugi. She knew they were trouble and she knew there was little time to spare. Suika raised her gourd as a defensive measure and dematerialized as fast as she could. She felt her gourd shake as two bullets smashed into it and a horrific chill as two other went where her body had been seconds ago. Yuugi cried out as the incredibly cold shot bashed into her, robbing what little body heat she had left.

"Whew, that was close. I hadn't thought a fairy had that much firepower, but I guess challenging an embodiment of ice to a snowball fight was pretty dumb to begin with." Suika reformed herself a while away. She took a look at Yuugi, who was lying shivering on the ground. "Looks like the cold did you in, old pal. Well, a little sake should have that body moving again. Speaking of which, I could use some." Suika opened her gourd and took a healthy gulp of its contents. Or would have, if anything could be bothered to come out. "Come on, gourd, you've never failed me before." Annoyed, Suika took a closer look at the opening of her heirloom. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Cirno's attack had frozen the sake solid.

Suika's sake had been frozen.

"That's it! This isn't fun anymore! I quit!" With footsteps that sounded like the Hisoutensoku was walking again, Suika went over and picked Yuugi up and threw the oni over her shoulders.

"Yuugi, we're leaving."

"W-wha-what? Why are we l-leaving?"

"We're out of sake."

"B-but didn't you have tha-"

"WE'RE OUT OF SAKE!"

The irritated oni walked towards the human village, and saw a certain stand.

"Wait a second, I know this place." Suika hurried towards it, and flung her fellow deva off her shoulders upon arrival. "The sake here is okay, and the food is great. Who cares about that little fairy? Besides, I have loads of questions for you. Like how's Michiyo doing? And does Yamashita still have his liquor store? And where the Hell is your sake dish?"

And so the oni went off to spend the night drinking sake. And the youkai mountain shook with terror as it the following morning had not only one, but two oni visitors. But that is another story.

*Ø*Ø*Ø

Cirno watched the two beaten oni stave off. Her shots had struck true (though she could have sworn she had missed Suika), and she avenged the deaths of Wriggle and Rumia.

"Now it is time to go out and make a memorial for our brave sisters who gave their lives in battle, Mystia." Cirno turned her head to look at the night sparrow. Who wasn't here.

"Where did you go? Don't tell me... Another one has gone MIA!" Cirno dashed out of the tank, looking ferociously for the feathered member of her group. Upon hearing a voice behind her, the ice fairy turned on the spot. However, the person to greet her wasn't Mystia. It wasn't Rumia or Wriggle either. In fact, it was quite possibly the worst person to meet right now. Cirno stood face to face with the Hakurei shrine maiden.

Later that day, the screams of a fairy echoed all across Gensokyo.

**The End**

**Author's notes:**

Hi everyone, Omegahugger here! It's been a while hasn't it? (No, it hasn't, Omega. You have been just as slow as usual). Anyways, there might be a few things I have to explain. First of all: No, Rumia and Wriggle didn't die. Cirno just exagerated. Second, I had to make up a title for Suika. It just didn't seem fair that Yuugi was called the strong and Suika wasn't called anything. While it could have been fun to call her Suika the Dense, I kinda viewed the 4 deva's as an adventuring group. With Suika as the rogue. If you ask me why, remember that Suika was once called _insincere_ for an oni. Besides, she uses her ability way more than her oni strength. She even has an ability solely for dodging/movement! But that is all my own guesswork.

(In case you were wondering, Yuugi would be the warrior)

This was also an entry for the Mostly Lucky Star Forum's 9th Fanfic Challenge. The theme this time around was "_What could go wrong?_" Alot of things, apparently. Oh dear, look at my rambling. I personally blame this on Nagaru Tanigawa's Afterword. It is all his fault. If I were to make a sequel it would be a fight between the Super Cirno Shrine Maiden Crusher Tank Mk. 2 (now with a new and improved stealth generator) and the Flower Tank, Winter Version! Though that will probably amount to nothing... I hope to see you again

Omegahugger ~


End file.
